Facial tissues, well known in the art, are widely used for blowing the nose. One of the drawbacks commonly encountered with this use concerns the problem of nasal discharge passing through the tissue and soiling the hands of the user. Accordingly, there is a need to provide a tissue with a moisture barrier so as to prevent nasal discharge and other liquids from penetrating through the tissue and soiling the user's hands. Additionally, it is desirable that the tissue be breathable, pliable and quiet.
Foam adhesives have been used to provide adhesion between plies of tissue as illustrated in British Patent Specification No. 1,599,875 issued to Sweens et al., published on Oct. 7, 1981. The drawback of this attempt is that the foam adhesive is not hydrophobic and hence would present an ineffective barrier to moisture penetration.
An attempt to prevent the penetration of moisture through tissue is illustrated in European Patent Application No. 0,144,658 published Jun. 19, 1985 in the name of Endres. Endres teaches applying a water-repellent agent to inhibit transmission of moisture through the tissue. The drawback of this teaching is that the resulting internal barrier layer is admittedly porous. Under typical use conditions, Endress fails to teach a dedicated hydrophobic stratum or layer and hence will alone be insufficient for effectively preventing the penetration of moisture through the tissue.
Other attempts in the art to prevent the penetration of moisture through tissue are illustrated in G.B. Pat. No. 2,119,709 issued to Ellam and published on Nov. 23, 1983; U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,118 issued to Endres et al. on Dec. 19, 1984 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,574,021 issued to Endres et al. on Mar. 4, 1986. In Ellam, a polyvinyl alcohol film is applied to liquid absorbent paper. In both Endres U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,118 and 4,574,021, a plastic film is applied to the inner layers of multi-layered tissue. All of these teachings suffer from the drawbacks of being non-porous, non-breathable, stiff and noisy.
Accordingly, the object of this invention is to provide tissue with an effective moisture barrier that is breathable and neither stiff nor noisy. A further objective of this invention is to incorporate a hydrophobic foam into tissue, thereby providing a tissue with an effective barrier to the penetration of moisture.